Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1498067
5 NEWS 27.4.2023 EU-Startups Summit relocating from Barcelona to Malta MFSA to participate in GFIN's Greenwashing TechSprint THIS year's EU-Startups Summit on April 20-21 in Barcelona, Spain, attract- ed 2,000 founders, startup enthusiasts and investors from across Europe for two exciting days of networking, inspi- ration and learning. e EU-Startups Summit is the annual flagship event of EU-Startups.com - a leading online magazine with a focus on startups in Europe. Kurt Farrugia, CEO of Malta En- terprise joined EU-Startups founder omas Ohr to announce that next year's EU-Startups Summit will be held on May 9-10 in Malta. e annual flagship event of EU-Start- ups originally started in 2014 in Mu- nich, then happened in Berlin for the next three years and since 2018 the event has been held in Barcelona - ex- cept for the pandemic times. EU-Startups founder and Menlo Me- dia CEO omas Ohr stated: "While being held first in Germany and later in Spain, the EU-Startups Summit was never a German or a Spanish startup event, but already from the very begin- ning it was a European event, bringing together startup ecosystem players from across Europe. In order to keep the Eu- ropean identity and international mix of our audience alive we're convinced that it's the right decision to move on and to host the EU-Startups Summit next year in Malta. It's a magnificent island with an English and Maltese speaking pop- ulation, a business and startup friendly environment and we're super excited for this next chapter of the EU-Startups Summit." Malta Enterprise is the country's eco- nomic development agency, tasked with attracting new foreign direct invest- ment as well as facilitating the growth of existing operations. Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia commented: "We are delighted to be hosting next year's EU-Startups Sum- mit in Malta. Malta Enterprise as the Economic Development Agency of the Maltese Government, has established itself as the single point of contact for startups. We administer a strong prop- osition for innovative startups that targets both the co-founders and their key employees. Our non-dilutive assis- tance can initially reach up to €1 mil- lion. is is complemented with a one to one personalised service that assists you from submitting your application, to setting-up and scaling out of Mal- ta. In the coming days we will launch a startup framework consultation with our stakeholders. We want our vision and strategic direction to be driven by the startup ecosystem. We look forward to next year's event and to welcome you to experience first hand - Malta – a fast growing startup hub in Europe." e EU-Startups Summit is one of the most popular startup events in Europe, connecting the key startup ecosystem players of the continent in person each year. e collaboration between Malta Enterprise and EU-Startups will ensure a smooth transition of the event from Barcelona to Malta, and with combined forces the EU-Startups Summit will be taken to the next level, further improv- ing the events' audience experience, speaker line-up and networking oppor- tunities. Over recent years, Malta has increased its commitment to fostering startup culture and has been attracting new businesses to its shores. e country is actively working on expanding its econ- omy and is setting its sights on the fu- ture of tech development in areas such as AI, Big Data, Gaming, IoT, SaaS, and Blockchain. Gaming and blockchain take the top spots for market areas in which Malta already plays an important role on a global scale. EU-Startups founder omas Ohr added: "e EU-Startups team is very excited to be hosting the EU-Startups Summit in Malta from 2024 onwards. As a mission-driven media and events company, we're looking forward to not only increasing our positive impact on the European startup ecosystem, but also our impact on the local startup ecosystem in Malta through increased media coverage and our annual flagship event." EU-Startups founder Thomas Ohr (left) with Kurt Farrugia, CEO of Malta Enterprise THE Malta Financial Services Au- thority will be among 13 international regulators taking part in the Global Fi- nancial Innovation Network (GFIN)'s first ever Greenwashing TechSprint. GFIN is a group of over 80 inter- national organisations committed to supporting financial innovation in the interest of consumers and it is currently chaired by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As a par- ticipating member the MFSA is invit- ing local firms to participate in this Greenwashing TechSprint event. The number of investment products marketed as 'green' or making wider sustainability claims is growing. Exaggerated, misleading or unsub- stantiated claims about Environmen- tal, Social and Governance (ESG) cre- dentials damage confidence in these products, which is why the MFSA wants to mitigate the notion of green- washing and to ensure that consumers and firms can trust that products have the sustainability characteristics they claim to have. The Authority will therefore be participating in a virtual TechSprint, hosted on the FCA's Digital Sandbox, to bring together international regula- tors, firms and innovators to address sustainable finance as a collective pri- ority. The TechSprint will allow for the development of a tool or solution that can help regulators and the mar- ket to effectively tackle the risks of greenwashing in financial services. The MFSA is inviting all Malta-based firms which are interested in partici- pating in the TechSprint to apply and take the opportunity to work with reg- ulatory experts, as well as a variety of stakeholders and professionals from across the globe. Applications opened on 17 April 2023 for four weeks. Additionally, to support the application process, GFIN is providing an information pack for prospective participants. Successful applicants will proceed through to on-boarding which will take place on 1 and 2 June. This will provide firms with train- ing on the Digital Sandbox and an in-depth overview of the TechSprint process. The TechSprint will subsequently be launched on 5 June and will run for three months, ending with a showcase day in September 2023. Commenting on this initiative, MF- SA's Head of FinTech Supervision Herman Ciappara stated: "Sustainable finance remains one of the MFSA's key priorities for Malta's financial services sector. The Authority has accelerated its efforts to align with the increased focus on this policy area by the EU and at national level. Our participation in the GFIN Greenwash TechSprint will provide the MFSA with hands-on in- sights which will further support our sustainable finance strategic priority."